Brakes blamed for horror which killed 77-year-old and left 20 Brits, including three children, shaken and injured
The heartbroken widow of the pensioner killed in the La Gomera bus crash was not aware he had died until being told by doctors.
The woman, believed to have been sitting beside her husband at the time of the crash, was taken to a nearby hospital where she asked medics: “Where is my husband?”.
Guacimara Barrera, the director of the Hospital Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, said the woman’s 77-year-old husband died instantly after the packed bus came off the road near a bend on Friday afternoon.
READ MORE: Canary Islands bus crash updates: ‘Brake failure’ probe as Brit dead and dozens hurtREAD MORE: Brit pensioner dies in Canary Islands crash as tourist bus plunges into ravine
She said: “The wife was not aware of this at the scene and when she came to the hospital. She was, well, in shock, and we were very sensitive in [informing her].”
The unnamed woman was being comforted by experts yesterday, while staying at the island’s Bancal Hotel & Spa alongside more than 20 other British survivors, including three children, after they were all released from hospital.
Ms Barrera said: “We decided the best place she could be was with everyone because they are doing therapies to overcome the shock of the accident.”
Guardia Civil traffic officers spent around 90 minutes inside the hotel on Saturday afternoon gathering crucial witness testimony.
Juan Luis Navarro, the Spanish central government’s representative on the island, said: “The hypothesis at the moment is that there was a mechanical problem, possibly with the brakes.
“But we are not sure about that because police must also take declarations from the other people inside the bus. “They are really emotionally affected, so it will be possibly today and tomorrow I think they will take more declarations.”
Mr Navarro said the survivors were all taken to the Bancal Hotel & Spa as they did not want to return to their previous hotel high up in the hills. To get there, they would have had to travel past the scene of Friday’s tragedy, including the wreckage of the bus, which yesterday remained an estimated 50ft below the road.
It was travelling downhill towards the airport at around 1.15pm on Friday when the driver, aged in his 50s, reportedly realised he had a problem with his brakes and tried to pull into a side road and then a gravel track in a bid to bring the vehicle to a natural stop.
Tragically, the vehicle, owned by La Gomera Tours, carried on towards the unfenced edge before plunging down below into rocks and foliage.
All of the vehicle’s windows could be seen smashed yesterday, while parts of the bus’ steel frame were left crumpled.
It was last night partly covered by a green tarpaulin sheet and is not expected to be moved from the crash spot until Monday.
Six people, including five Brits, remained in hospital yesterday afternoon.
The three most seriously injured, including the driver, were airlifted to the neighbouring island of Tenerife on Friday for treatment.
The other three, including a married couple, were being treated at Hospital Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on La Gomera, just minutes from the crash site. Speaking about the three lesser injured, including the eldest aged in their 70s, Mr Navarro added: “I think they are getting better. “There will be more medical tests just to know how they are exactly. Once they see the evolution, the doctors will decide what other tests must be conducted.”
The tragedy came less than 12 months after a similar crash on the same GM-2 road connecting the capital San Sebastian with the rest of the mountainous island.
Last May, a 73-year-old Spanish woman died and 11 others were injured when a public transport bus overturned on a straight stretch of the road just over a mile away and tumbled down a hill.
La Gomera Tours, the bus owner and operator, has said all of its vehicles are “up to date” with inspections and it wasn’t aware of any incident or complaint from their drivers regarding that stretch of road.
A representative later told Spanish media the local man at the wheel is an experienced driver who passes the spot where the crash occurred “virtually every day.”
A spokesperson for tour operator The Holiday Property Bond said: “Our immediate focus is on the safety and wellbeing of everyone affected. We recognise this is an extremely distressing situation for those involved, as well as for their families and loved ones, and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.”
In a post on X, Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said: “My thoughts are with those affected by the tragic incident involving a bus carrying British holidaymakers in the Canary Islands.”
